


The Other Side of Things

by poisonouswalrus



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, SuperCorp, based on a tumblr prompt, i'm trash for these two, sorry for any typos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 08:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10510446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonouswalrus/pseuds/poisonouswalrus
Summary: Based on the prompt, "Lena finds out Kara is an alien when visiting a nearby alien bar. Kara openly admits it, but Lena soon finds out there is more to her secret." by tumblr user lesbihonestalready





	

The look of betrayal in Kara’s eyes haunted her.

  
She didn’t understand. The alien detection device was supposed to be a good thing. How else were people supposed to feel safe? Anyone you passed could be an alien nowadays and you would never know. The thought chilled her.

Except.

Lena remembered how people treated her once they realized why she didn’t chase after the boys like the rest of the girls. She remembered the looks, the whispers, how alone she felt. She had already been on the outside looking in, what with being a Luthor, but after the word gay was branded on her, she had no hopes of ever connecting with a friend.

Did she really want to subject anyone to an isolated life like hers? Even an alien?

Kara had said something about not all aliens being hostile, about some of them being refuges from other planets. Admittedly, Lena did not know much about aliens other than what Lilian taught her and by what Lex ranted about during those final years.

Making up her mind, she opened her laptop and started doing a little research. It took some digging, but she found the name of a bar frequented by aliens. Lena looked at the clock. It was past ten.

“Jess?” She called.

Jess entered her office, a knowing look on her face. “I have already cancelled the conference call with the investors from Russia and a car should be here shortly to take you where you need to go.”

“What would I do without you?” Lena asked. “Make sure you leave the office tonight. You deserve some time off.”

Jess smiled at her, nodded, and left Lena's office.

~~~~

Lena sits in the car outside the bar, watching aliens walk in.

No.

Not aliens.

People.

If she was going to be open-minded, she had to stop thinking of them as outsiders. Kara said that they were just trying to fit in, to be accepted. Change starts with individuals.

Should she even go in there? She was a Luthor, after all. No matter how nice anyone may seem, they would love to punch the sister of a known mass-murderer. She wonders if she should have invited Kara, but judging by the dark and sketchy exterior, Kara Danvers would never be caught dead here. Come to think of it, Lena didn’t belong here either.

But how else was she supposed to disprove all of Lilian and Lex’s rants and rambles?

Taking a deep breath, she opens the door and steps outside of the car. The night air was chilly and she tries to get to the bar as fast as her heels would let her. She walks into the bar and immediately regrets leaving her car. All eyes turned towards her and she felt the hostility aimed towards her. She straightens up, pushes her shoulders back, and walks towards the bar, years of practiced Luthor confidence kicking in.

She gets to the bar and orders two shots of whiskey. She downs them as soon as they are handed to her, not even glancing at the person who gave her the drinks. She feels just as out of place here as she did back in boarding school after she was outed. She doesn’t belong here, should have never come in. She places a couple of bills on the bar and gets up to leave. She turns around only to slam into a steel wall.

Or, at least, that’s how it feels.

“Oh Rao, I’m so sorry! Let me clean that! I didn’t see you there I am so sorry!”

Lena frowns, looking at the source of the familiar voice and at the hands dabbing at her shirt. “Kara?”

Kara pales, her hands immediately dropping to her sides. “Oh, Lena, hi. W-what are you, uh, doing here?”

“I thought about what you said and I decided to try and understand how my device would affect both parties, not just humans. I’ve got to admit, this is the last place I would have thought to see you.”

“Oh, yeah, no, I was just, um, you know, in the neighborhood, and, uh, I have a friend, actually I have many friends, and they go to this bar occasionally and I like talking to the people here you know they can be friendly to humans, which I am. A human, I mean. Like you,” Kara rambles. She takes a sip of the drink she accidentally spilt on Lena earlier.

“What are you drinking? It looks like melted aluminum.” The drink smelled slightly acidic and unlike any alcoholic beverage Lena had ever encountered.

Kara looks at her drink, as if just now realizing she was holding it. “This? It’s just a drink that M’gonn prepared me. No big deal.”

“Can I try some?”

“You wouldn’t like it.”

“Try me.”

Kara shifts nervously. “Do you want to sit down?”

Lena nods. Kara walks to a booth opposite the bar. Lena sits down across from her, looking around awkwardly, still unsure of herself. Kara looks at her with a small smile. She gestures towards a patron sitting two tables down from them. “That guy had to leave his home planet because he developed a rare allergy that made him fatally allergic to everyone on his planet.”

“Do you think he misses his family?” Lena asks.

Kara’s eyes held a sea of sadness in them. “Leaving your planet and losing everyone you’ve ever known? I think he spends every second thinking of what he’s lost. He probably tries to hide it in front of the people he’s met here on Earth so they don’t feel like they’re not enough. I think he spend a lot of his time repressing his feelings because he knows no matter what happens, he will never be able to go back.” Kara looks away and takes a long drink. She shakes herself off and smiles at Lena, her blue eyes still dark and cloudy.

Kara gestures to the bartender. “She comes from a culture that thrives off of killing others. She realized that what they did was wrong and she stood up to them. She tried saving as many as she could, but only she escaped.”

Lena looks closely at Kara. “You sure know a lot about the people here.” She noted. “Do you spend a lot of time here?”

Kara nods and doesn’t offer an explanation. Instead she keeps drinking. Lena looks around, noticing other patrons drinking a molten aluminum drink strikingly similar to Kara’s. “I’ll be right back,” Lena says. She heads to the bar.

“Hi, can I get one of those silver drinks?” She asks the bartender.

M’gonn looks at her. “That drink could kill you. It’s not meant for human consumption.”

“Fine. A shot of whiskey then.”

~~~~~~~

Halfway through her drink, Kara is laughing and touching Lena's arm. Kara has always been a physically affectionate person and a slightly drunk Kara is even more so.

Lena can't say that she minds.

Suddenly, Kara looks at her phone. “Oh Rao, I have to work early tomorrow. Or today, I suppose,” She starts getting up, stumbling a bit.

“That's the second time you've said that,” Lena notes.

“Said what?”

“Rao.” The word felt foreign on her tongue, but Kara looked at her with a dreamy smile on her face.

“I must have picked it up from somewhere.” She got out of the booth, stumbling and catching herself on the edge of the table.

“Would you like me to walk you home?” It was well past midnight, much too dangerous for anyone to walk the city streets alone.

Kara stumbles again, but this time Lena was ready to catch her. Lena grabs her by the arms before she could fall. When she feels Kara's biceps, her breath catches in her throat. Kara straightens up, eye level with Lena despite Lena's two inch heels. Kara's face is only inches away from Lena. “I think that's a good idea,” she murmurs.

Heart beating wildly, Lena lets go of Kara as soon as she is confident that Kara won't fall over. She turns to the booth to leave a tip. As she is turning to leave, a glint catches her eye. She turns back to the table, noticing a dent in the metal where Kara held on to steady herself. Kara had some nice biceps, but there was no way she dented the metal table.

“Are you coming?” Kara calls from the doorway.

Lena follows, filing the mysterious dent away for later.

They walk outside only to find that the night has gotten colder. Lena can’t help but shiver. Kara notices and walks closer to her, their arms just barely touching. Kara’s body heat radiates warmth and Lena finds herself pressing closer to Kara. She would be lying if she said that she was only getting closer because of the warmth. The truth was, wherever Kara’s skin touched hers left a not all unpleasant feeling the pit of her stomach.

“You know, I was adopted too.” Kara says.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I lost my family and everyone I ever cared about. The Danvers family was kind enough to take me in. I am so grateful, but sometimes I just wonder what if, you know? What would have happened if I was raised with my birth family, surrounded by my people, by my culture.”

Lena knew all too well what that felt like. She couldn’t count all the nights she laid awake thinking of the endless possibilities of being raised by her birth family, or by someone who actually cared about her, who wanted her, not the PR points they would win by adopting an orphan. “Your culture?” Lena asked. “Where are you from?”

Kara stiffens next to her. “Uh, up north.”

They walk in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, each lost in the possibilities of what ifs. Kara stops after a while. “This is my building.”

“Oh.” Lena didn’t want to leave Kara.

“Do you want to come in?” Kara asks.

Lena nods and follows her up. Kara opens the door for her. She walks inside, turns around, and smiles at Lena, proud of the place she calls home. One step into the apartment and Lena is overwhelmed with a feeling. She can’t quite place it. She looks around the apartment and the whole place is just so Kara and so warm and she feels, well maybe not happy, not yet, but content and she feels at peace and she shakes off the feeling, unsure what just happened.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” She asks, still smiling.

“Do you have any whiskey?” Lena wants to forget the warm feeling, knowing it probably won’t last long. She better not get used to it.

Kara walks over to a cabinet, pours her a drink, and gets out a bottle of water for herself. She sets the glass down on the island in the kitchen. Lena sits near the glass, as far from Kara as she can without being rude. Kara is standing, leaning against the counter, looking at her with those eyes. Lena soon finds herself looking down at Kara’s lips, imagining how soft they would feel against hers. She imagines Kara’s tongue running across her bottom lip, imagines the quiet moans that would escape her throat. Lena forces herself to look away and drink her whiskey.

“Have you changed your mind?”

“What?” Lena looks back at Kara.

“About the alien detection device. People escape from genocide, poverty, starvation. Some people come here because they have nowhere else to go. All anyone ever wants is to fit in, to not be alone. If they are exposed without their consent, they are in danger from hate crimes.” Kara stepped closer to Lena. “Everyone wants a home, somewhere to feel safe.”

“I guess I never really thought about the other side of things. I grew up hearing about how everyone only looked out for themselves. Once Lex started ranting about aliens, all I heard was how they came here to corrupt and conquer. I should have kept an open mind. I think the device is going to do more bad than good.” Lena’s voice is level, despite her heart beat getting quicker with every step Kara took closer to her. When she’s a couple of inches away, Kara stops and cocks her head to the side, as if listening to something. Kara cups Lena’s cheek tentatively and Lena’s breath hitches. She feels her heart go into overdrive.

Kara's lips crash onto hers. Kara runs her tongue on Lena's bottom lip and Lena feels like she is floating. This was better than she imagined. The warm feeling overpowers her again, giving her a sense of rightness, a sense of belonging. She wraps her arms around Kara’s neck pulling her closer and, as Kara wraps her arms around her waist, Lena knows what the warm feeling is. Kara is here and she is kissing her and Lena never wants this to end and Lena is home.

But as much as she wants to continue kissing Kara, she knows that it's wrong to do it while she's been drinking. Lena pulls away and opens her eyes, only to find that they actually are floating. Her heart jumps. They are maybe four feet off the ground. Lena holds on to Kara as tighter, terrified.

Kara opens her eyes. “Rao, not again.” They start getting closer to the ground. “That happens sometimes when I get really excited, I'm sorry.” They finally get to the ground.

Lena backs up, mind racing now that the pieces were falling into place. The moment when Kara claimed she flew to her office on a bus, the way that running into Kara felt like running into a steel wall, the mysterious toxic drink at the bar, the dent in the table, everything finally made sense. She can’t believe she missed it, it was so obvious. Never mind that she always had a blind spot for pretty girls with hair made of gold and eyes as blue as a lake and a smile with a thousand suns. She should have known.

A thousand thoughts run through her head, but all she can say is, “The alien detection device didn't work on you.”

Kara looks at the ground. “I messed with it a little, I'm sorry I didn't know how you would react. I mean, this isn't really how I wanted to tell you.” She looks up at her, slightly alarmed. “And I was going to tell you! I swear! I just didn't know how to tell you that I'm...” Kara trailed off.

“That you're an alien?” Lena asks. When Kara doesn't say anything, Lena starts to reach out for her, but stops her hand in midair. She doesn’t know what to do. “I'm not mad, Kara. I understand why you hid it. I imagine it was hard enough debating over whether to tell a Luthor, much less one who built a device specifically for use against aliens.” Kara still doesn't speak. “I should go.” She starts walking towards the door.

“Wait.”

Lena stops.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just…” She trails off again. Kara frowns, struggling to find words. Her shirt is slightly ruffled from where Lena grabbed on to her for dear life. “I was scared that associating with me would make you a target. Your brother already has it in for you what with changing the company. I didn’t want to be the reason that anyone else would want to harm you. I figured if you didn’t know about me, if anything were to happen, you would be able to plead ignorance.”

Lena can’t stop staring at Kara. Not just because of her words, but because there, at the top of Kara’s shirt, red fabric was poking out. Those blue eyes, the little scar above her eyebrow, those muscles. Lena has to stifle a laugh because she has been so blind. Lena thought she only had two friends in national city. Turns out, she only has one.

Lena debates whether to confront Kara about it, but Kara already looks so sad. She was trying to protect her and now that Lena knew she was Supergirl, Kara’s excuse for not telling her made so much more sense. Not only would Lex lose what’s left of his mind if he knew Lena has been hanging around an alien, he would go on a prison rampage if that alien happened to be a Super.

Lena kisses Kara’s nose. “I understand.”

Kara’s smile lit up the room.

Lena made up her mind. She would wait until Kara was ready to tell her.

She would wait an eternity for Kara because Kara was more than worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hmu on tumblr for prompts or to just chat at drowningisthefirststeptodying


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